


The End is Where We Begin

by haikemi



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Aliens, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Asian Character(s), Avengers Feels, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Canon-Typical Violence, Drama, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fights, Fluff, Hell, How Do I Tag, Minor Original Character(s), Minor Wanda Maximoff/Vision, OR IS IT, Omega Verse, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, Past Child Abuse, Platonic Female/Female Relationships, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Bucky Barnes, Some Humor, Swearing, Tags May Change, Up all night to get Bucky (Marvel), Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug, based off Arrival, basically OFC and Jane bond over aliens, does Arrival even have a fandom, everyone is a sarcastic little shit, i sure dont, i think, it's kinda a crossover between Arrival and Avengers but not really, probably, slightly subdued omegaverse though, who knows how omegaverse works
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-20 12:53:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13718091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haikemi/pseuds/haikemi
Summary: Six months after the incidents following the Sokovian Accords and what the press has taken to call the ‘Civil War’, the Avengers are scattered and nursing their broken trust, but the planet needs them once more. What better to bring the team together again than huge-ass aliens? Heavily inspired by the movie “Arrival”. Omegaverse; A/B/O dynamics.Or;In which Bucky Barnes learns it's okay to be whoever he wants as he accidentally falls in love with his newest target and is fairly sure Sam Wilson will never stop being a little shit.





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot believe I gave in and finally started to write this thing holy crap. Let’s all hope I manage to finish this.
> 
> I’ll refrain from writing author’s notes, so please bear with me this once, yeah? More often than not, the chapters will be written from the OC’s point of view, but sometimes we’ll have the story told by people like Sam or Steve; even Bucky. Please do tell me if it makes the story confusing.
> 
> The OC has strong roots and ties with the Japanese and the South Korean culture, and although I’ll try my best, please inform me of any misspellings.
> 
> This story is heavily inspired by the movie “Arrival”, but you don’t need to watch it to follow the plot - even though it’s an excellent movie and I strongly recommend you watch it.
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters mentioned or the “Arrival” plot.

**Day 1 - If it means a lot to you**

 

.

.

> “When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.”
> 
> ― Kahlil Gibran; Sand and Foam
> 
>  

.

.

There are many things she doesn’t remember from her childhood, but they were not very pleasant times, so she doesn’t mind the gap in her memories. Instead, she often focuses on her early teens; back when  hal-abeoji * picked her up and took her to live on a small, traditional Korean house on the outskirts of Cambridge, Massachusetts. She clearly remembers being enchanted by all the wildflowers that grew around their house, as well as the bats she could barely see on the evenings she and hal-abeoji spent sitting on their porch, drinking tea and enjoying themselves.

Eun-mi holds those memories as close to her heart as she can before opening her eyes, immediately blinking against the harsh, dry wind. The young woman casts an equally dry look to the man next to her, who promptly ignores it as he continues to survey the area.

“I know it doesn’t look like it, but we’ve done the best we could with our structure. You’ll have a safe place to sleep in, as well as a comfortable office to work in. I’d say there’s no rush, but my superiors don’t agree with that.”

She tries not to hold it against the beta; he hasn’t been rude or disrespectful to her once since he showed up on her little piece of paradise a week before. Rather, Director Coulson has kept a very professional distance, stating facts as directly as he could while trying not to sound like an impatient alpha. So far, Eun-mi thinks he’s done rather well for the director of a secret government agency that shouldn’t even exist anymore.

It’s not his fault she’s an omega amongst a bunch of conservative, stick-up-their-asses alphas who think they own the world because they’re military. Really, it isn’t.

“Do you have any questions, Dr. Kim?”

The petite woman makes sure to school her features into a calm, polite smile, before answering.

“Just one, actually. Where the hell is Sam Wilson?”

.

* * *

.

“She’s Korean?” Steve asks, furrowing his eyebrows as his eyes quickly scan the papers on his hands. He risks a glance to Sam, who shrugs casually as he answers.

“Something like that.”

The captain narrows his eyes, but says nothing as he goes back to reading. He doesn’t even know how to pronounce this girl’s (woman’s) name, and although Sam’s been singing her praises, her files are nothing to scoff at.

The alpha knows better than to blindly trust people like that, however. Even if Sam is more than eager to vouch for her.

“And you really think she can help?” The dark-skinned beta shrugs once more, the action much too casual in Steve’s sharp eyes. One glance at Bucky’s still figure sitting not five feet away from him assures the captain he’s not going crazy.

“If she can’t help, then I honestly don’t see how anyone can.”

“You’re on edge.” The blonde alpha comments, and the temperature in the small makeshift meeting room drops a few degrees. “You’ve been tense ever since yesterday morning.”

Wordlessly, Bucky raises an arm without taking sharp eyes off Sam. Immediately, his childhood friend gives him the manilla folder, and the brunette raises an eyebrow.

“She lives next to you.” The alpha’s voice is rough and deep, as if he barely speaks his mind, but his low murmur is clearly heard by the other two men in the room, and it makes one of them stiffen minutely.

“Yeah.” After a pause, both alphas realize the tense man isn’t going to add anything to that. Steve sighs, pinches the bridge of his nose, and turns tired blue eyes to the dark-skinned man, deciding a new approach is in order.

“Did you tell Coulson about her?”

The answer is immediate and tinged with anger and frustration. “No.”

Understanding brightens blue-grey eyes, and the sergeant speaks once more.

“You didn’t want Coulson to know about her.” By the way Sam flinches and sighs, Bucky might’ve as well shouted in his face. Both alphas watch with varying degrees of apprehension as Wilson gets up in one swift motion and starts to pace the small room, not unlike an angry, caged animal would.

“Sam-”

“No, Steve, listen. My mom’s known her grandfather for a long time - I’ve known her since she was this pipsqueak of a kid who had more nightmares than most of the war veterans I’ve worked with.” The words leave his mouth in a rush, and he can’t exactly describe the look on the alphas’ faces, but the string has finally snapped and it needs to hit someone.

“She’s had a rough childhood, alright? She’s- she’s a sweetheart and she’s got a brilliant future ahead of her- the last fucking thing she needs is to be forced to come to fucking nowhere and work her ass off for shady government agents who still think Alpha Commander is a legit title.”

The Falcon shakes his head, as if to clear it, and then drags a heavy hand down his face, breathing deeply for a few seconds.

Steve is worried, to say the least. He’s never - not even once - seen Sam lose his cool like that. The beta has always been the sarcastic but clear head between him and Bucky, and a wince of sympathy runs down his spine at the inevitable conclusion his brain arrives to.

“I’m so sorry, Sam. I didn’t know they were going to bring your mate into this-”

Sam chokes on air, a horrified expression on his face. “What the fuck?”

The captain furrows his eyebrows and his lips unconsciously curl into a pout, an expression Natasha has smartly dubbed ‘the kicked golden retriever puppy’ look. What had he said? Sam was obviously very upset the young woman got roped into this; she had to be his mate, right?

(Next to him, Bucky shakes his head amusedly and huffs. The traitor.)

“Steve”, the Falcon chokes out, “she’s not my mate, holy crap man. She’s like my little sister - I taught her how to ride a fucking bicycle!”

A little amused and embarrassed himself, the blonde alpha raises his hands in a small surrender sign, an apologetic look on his face.

Before any of the three man can say anything to that, however, Tony Stark himself makes a dramatic appearance, effectively crowding their small meeting room and making a show of cutting the mood.

“So, where’s the girl who can talk to aliens?”

.

* * *

.

“Wait a minute. Who even said I can talk to aliens?” Eun-mi feels a headache blooming at the back of her head, but chooses to ignore it in favor of trying to look serious and in control of the situation. Seated before the metal table with Sam right next to her, the young omega tries not to be intimidated by the people looking critically at her.

There are many of the Avengers present, including Captain Steve Rogers and Tony Stark. Surprisingly enough, those two don’t make her feel nearly as anxious as the two deadly assassins in the back watching her every move and reaction. Hell, even Director Coulson and Colonel what’s-his-face seem more welcoming than the two alphas daring her to make a suspicious move.

“You can’t? Well, that’s embarrassing.” Immediately she focuses on the culprit responsible for her current predicament, and sends him the dryest look she can manage.

“Thank you  _ so _  much for your trust, Mr. Stark. Really, it’s an honor.” She flinches internally, immediately berating herself for her sarcastic tone, and not even Sam’s scent, fresh and rain-forest like, is enough to calm her down, even if he seems mostly amused by her remark.

Tony Stark, a snarky beta who always had something to say about someone, pursues his lips as he squints his eyes at her, and in the middle of the deafening silence she holds his gaze even as the older man suddenly breaks into a grin that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I like her. Agent, can we keep her? I say we keep her.”

A few groans can be heard around the room, although the comment helps ease the suffocating tension in the tent.

Colonel what’s-his-face clears his throat, a barely concealed look of annoyance on his face. Eun-mi can clearly see that the alpha is very much used to being obeyed in a no-nonsense environment, everything he cannot have in a room full of Avengers. Even though the man is sitting all the way across the table, the omega can catch a whiff of his displeased scent - it reminds her of burning rubber on a hot day, and it’s enough to make her feel vaguely nauseous. Coulson, on the other hand, looks entirely in his element as his neutral and somewhat citric scent enables her to breathe a little easier when he puts a StarkPad in front of her.

The woman’s attention immediately shifts to the blurry pictures, and she can barely make out a huge, octopus-like dark shape. With a flick of his hand, Director Coulson expands the folder of pictures into holograms that spread in front of her, and although it’s not as clear as seeing things on a physical screen, it’s enough for understanding to dawn on her.

“Is this their language?” Eun-mi feels multiple pairs of eyes shift from her form to the picture she’s pointing to; on the top corner of the hologram, sits an image of a dark, inky circle, with many peaks of various sizes. She looks at the date and finds out that picture was taken yesterday, whilst the one next to it, although similar in shape, has more peaks and had been taken three days ago.

“We believe so. The unidentified object” - Coulson points to a long spaceship, no doubt bigger than most skyscrapers - “has landed in the middle of the Davis Mountains, Texas, two weeks ago. Although the military was quickly dispatched, there have been so signs of hostile intentions since then.” The alpha Colonel scoffs something under his breath, but remains largely ignored.

“Everyday, two unidentified beings will lower the object and allow entrance to it at exactly 3:56 PM. Dr Banner has yet to confirm the existence of harmful levels of radiation, but we have an investigation ongoing. Often, only one of them will come closer to a glass-like structure and paint one of these symbols. They leave after a few minutes.”

Part of Eun-mi’s brain briefly registers the fact that Dr. Bruce Banner, a well-known scientist and pioneer in gama radiation studies was there. Another, bigger part, was completely awestruck by this entire thing.

After the Battle of New York, very few people refused to believe in the existence of aliens, but a lot of people came to believe any contact with extraterrestrial beings would be harmful to humans. The Earth is a very stable planet in our Solar System, not to mention humans in general are relatively weak if compared to species who have weapons and bigger bodies to defend themselves with, so it’s easy to see why people would think that way - the government, specially.

But this? Aliens who have been here in our atmosphere (and here let’s stop for a minute to consider everything that entitles, which means our percentage of oxygen and carbonic gas as well as ozone, UV rays, pollution; the list goes on and on) and so far have remained largely unaffected by it all. Not only that, but they also have made attempts at contact and haven’t been hostile, which can either mean something really bad or something really good.

“Bad news; we might die. Good news; we might not.” The young woman mumbles, realizing far too late that half the room had heard her.

“What do you mean?” Captain Rogers speaks for the first time that afternoon, concerned sky-blue eyes on her. Although his attention has been on her from the moment she stepped into the room, all the whiffs of scent she’s caught from him so far are rich and soothing and suspiciously remind her of fougère. Not too far behind him, Sergeant Barnes hasn’t moved a muscle, and if she wasn’t certain she’d be crazy to think so, she’d confess to having seen a slight hint of amusement on the deadly assassin’s eyes.

“Aliens have made the Earth their home for two weeks now and have been attempting contact everyday ever since, going so far as to follow our solar calendar. That can either mean they came here to warn us about something or they might be here to play around with us and stall long enough for their people to come and kill us all.”

A pregnant silence follows the omega’s statement, although one look at Steve and Sam’s faces would be able to tell you they’re having an entire conversation through their eyes. The Falcon looks especially smug and not particularly worried, until the Colonel finally breaks the silence with a pointed glare. Eun-mi’s nausea comes back with a vengeance when she realizes the alpha is less than happy with the news, and the burning in her nose is enough for her to let a displeased face shine through her calm and collected mask.

“Warn us about what?”

The young woman takes pleasure in counting up to five seconds of the dryest silence she can muster; then:

“I have no idea.”

.

* * *

.

“I know it’s not much, but you need to eat a little. It’s nearly three and I know you haven’t eaten all day.”

Sam’s voice sounds clear and stubborn on a big space with metal tables and chairs that has been dubbed as the meal room. Above their heads, a dark green tent is lined up with yellow lights, and a look through one of the plastic windows lets them know the sandstorm has passed.

A tray with soup that honestly looks like potato water and a couple of thin sandwiches is placed in front of the only omega present in the room, and she doesn’t dare make a face at it. Instead, she claps her hands in front of her and silently says her thanks for the meal before she drinks the soup.

Steve has no doubt it tastes like potato water, too.

She’s nothing like he’d expected her to be, even if he didn’t know what exactly he had been expecting. In his eyes, though, it was clear to see why Sam was so protective of her.

Eun-mi (he’d have to find the courage to ask how the hell her name was pronounced) was this tiny slip of an omega, easily half his size, who couldn’t have been past her early twenties, even though Steve knew very well she was a 27 year old woman who could take care of herself. She had an exquisitely sweet smell that reminded him of lavender and was all easy smiles. She also seemed to be an honest, if sarcastic, person - hell, he had to admit she had managed to both impress and amuse Captain America a little bit, which was no easy feat - but there was clearly something in the way she held herself that seemed to scream: ‘don’t mess with me!’ Perhaps it had something to do with the fact she held herself not unlike an alpha would, chin out and confident air, but it might have been a defense mechanism against the uncomfortable situation she was facing.

The captain sighs, glancing at his old friend, who seems to be content in surveying the room with a somewhat relaxed stance, and wonders what he thinks of the omega. He has no doubt Bucky has a much better grasp on the things she might be hiding than he ever could.

Something bitter and acid settles on his tongue and the alpha has to cut that line of thought as quickly as he can. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Sam giving him odd looks, but the man thankfully remains engrossed on the conversation he has going with his childhood friend.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to trust her. Eun-mi honest to God looks like a kind and sweet girl, and he knows Sam wouldn’t think twice about leaving things up to her; there’s also the rational part of his brain telling him that she didn’t seem to come here sniffing for any kind of gossip she could. Steve knows all that, but he can’t afford to easily trust people like that. Not after… well, everything.

He’s not aware he’s sent a troubled look to the sergeant a few feet away from them, but then Bucky nods slightly at him, showing Steve he understands his troubles and that they’re going to come up with a solution, and the blonde alpha could nearly cry because it felt so good - so right - to have his best friend with him again.

Before his thoughts can turn darker, he lightly clears his throat, and the attention of all three occupants in the room is on him. The captain looks into curious chocolate eyes and his stomach churns uncomfortably before he does his best to ignore it.

“So…”

.

.

There was something to be said about the uneasy-looking alpha in front of her. Steve Rogers was basically everything an omega could dream of; tall, strong, handsome and kind. It was one of those things that people spoke of every once in a while, but whoever Captain America’s mate was going to be, they were going to be damn lucky bastards.

Yet, there he was, fiddling with his hands in front of an omega half his size. It did make her wonder what in the seven fucks she had already done to earn her such a reaction, but Sam didn’t look worried, so she decided to let it go.

“Yes?” Eun-mi makes sure she’s as relaxed as possible, letting the alphas in the room know she’s comfortable with their presence through her scent.

“You and Sam know each other?” The woman could see the exact moment he almost slapped himself in the face, and there definitely was that glint of amusement on Barnes’ eyes.

“Yes, Sam’s mom and my grandpa know each other. He often babysat me.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she notices Sergeant Barnes deliberately turn his head to look at nowhere in particular, obviously sensing the conversation was going to take a personal turn but not making an effort to actively avoid listening in. She took in his body language; although both his arms were crossed over his chest, his pale face looked relaxed and his eyes betrayed the calm he was feeling. His scent, a deliciously rich mix of sandalwood and leather, confirmed her suspicions.

He reminded her of a lioness watching her kittens play; relaxed but observant.

Captain Rogers sends a curious look to the dark-skinned man, but Sam shrugs and grins, and the action, this time, is genuinely casual.

“It’s true. You won’t ever guess how they met.” The blonde man furrows his eyebrows, still nervous for some reason, before the omega answers.

“Grandpa works in a Buddhist temple teaching yoga.” The words are out of Steve’s mouth before he can stop them, turning wide eyes to Wilson.

“Your mom does yoga?”

The baffled question that comes out of the alpha is enough to send Eun-mi and Sam in a fit of laughter, and if anyone had been paying attention, they would have noticed even Sergeant Barnes let out an amused huff.

“My mom does a lot of things you wouldn’t know about, man.”

“Dr. Kim?” All four heads turn to look at the newcomer; Director Coulson still looks collected and in his element, but Eun-mi notices a tension to his jaw that wasn’t there before. A quick glance at her wristwatch tells her it’s nearly Alien Time. “If you please would.”

She nods swiftly and gets up, telling brief goodbyes to the men in the room and quickly falling into pace with the middle-aged beta.

“Sam mentioned something about protective measures?” Coulson nods without looking back at her.

“Yes. A total of four people are coming along on today’s expedition, and all of you must shower, put sterilized clothing on, as well as an anti-radiation outfit.”

“I’d like to go as I am, actually.”

That gets her a raised eyebrow and a skeptical look, but they don’t stop walking, and she takes that as a sign to continue.

“If they’ve been here for two weeks and no significant radiation levels have been found, then I suspect there isn’t any harm in it. Besides, even if there was some type of radiation unknown to us, it would’ve shown in the first week they appeared.”

Eun-mi sees Director Coulson run a critical look at her - and she doesn’t feel the least bit offended or disgusted, because she sees in her mind’s eye the same thing as he does: a small omega who’s ready to march up there and have a pleasant chat with some aliens in skinny jeans. She could have done a lot worse, in her defense.

Finally, the beta gives her a sharp nod just as they round a corner and come inside what must be the sterilizing tent. They earn a few bewildered glances when they skip the entire procedure, but since Director Coulson is obviously in charge, no one questions them, and soon enough they’re in the back of a jeep, going towards the dark, contrasting shape in the middle of nowhere.

.

* * *

 

.

Steve doesn’t exactly know what time it is, but his internal clock tells him it’s way past his usual bedtime. For better or for worse, he doesn’t feel the least bit sleepy.

“Buck?”

His best friend shrugs, metal arm glinting in the moonlight. Barnes’ expression is carefully blank, and a part of Steve wonders if he’s talking to Bucky or the Winter Soldier. It shouldn’t matter, because either way it’s his best friend right in front of him, the one that’d been through hell and back with him, but somehow it does and his heart hurts.

“She doesn’t act out of ordinary, but Wilson’s judgement might be compromised. We can’t trust it fully.”

Bucky is just stating facts, he knows, but it still makes the same disgusting and bitter taste burn his tongue like a curse. The alpha thinks he sees something like sympathy flash in his friend’s eyes, but it’s gone as quickly as it came. The brunette is also making an effort of concealing whatever emotion he may be feeling about this.

“Can you keep an eye on her for a few days? It’s probably gonna end up nowhere, but…”

The assassin merely nods resolutely, and Steve snaps his mouth shut.

Thankfully (or not), no more words need to be said.


	2. Day 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's day three, and new discoveries are being made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own any Marvel characters or the Arrival plot.

**Day 3 - Bulls on Parade**

 

.

.

> “Don’t trust everything you see. Even salt looks like sugar.”

\- Unknown

.

.

 

 

Bucky had refrained from forming any personal opinions on Eun-mi from the moment she stepped into camp.

If she were someone unrelated to the current matter at hand (read: fucking aliens) then he’d have no qualms about letting The Asset run a quick assessment of her threat level and then forming a completely unprofessional opinion of her.

(Not as Bucky Barnes from the 40’s, no. That man was long dead and gone. The alpha didn’t know exactly what he was, but he definitely wasn’t The Asset, and he most definitely wasn’t who Steve knew 70 years ago).

As that wasn’t the case, the ex-HYDRA assassin had run a quick background check on her right after he memorized what little information there was on her profile.

Eun-mi Kim, 27 years old, was a Japanese immigrant that moved to Cambridge at 12 years old. Strangely enough, Barnes hadn’t been able to find anything on her before that age aside from her previous name, but figured that SHIELD wouldn’t bring in someone they could trust enough for this.

She was nothing short of brilliant, was his brief assessment of her on that meeting room full of tension.

One; fluent in over ten languages, including Russian, the young woman had only recently gotten a hold of her Ph.D. in psychology and social studies at Harvard University. 

Two; the ability to remain calm and collected most of the time, which demanded clear control of her emotions and a complex understanding of her situation. She knew when to back down and when to let shit hit the fan.

Three; she was small, barely reached his own shoulder, but she was lean and agile in a way he had seen few omegas be. He had no doubt she’d be able to hold her own in a fight against your average person. He hadn’t seen her wear anything other than practical, dark clothes either.

**Final assessment:**

**Threat level: high; considering mental capabilities. Moderate to medium; considering physical prowess.**

**Imminent danger: low. Target has been hired to deal with bigger threat. Environment not favorable for confront.**

**Conclusion: stand by and observe. Be prepared to eliminate-**

The sergeant mentally shook his head, not wanting his little hiding spot in the shadows to be compromised. The Asset had done his thing, now it was time to let his rational side take over.

He would do as Steve had asked. Not only because of the captain, but Bucky was going to keep an eye on her either way. It had been like that with every single person who had entered the camp’s little military bubble, and Eun-mi would be no different, even if Sam Wilson claimed to know her since childhood.

Cool blue eyes run a scan through the tent for the fifth time in thirty minutes. The spot he’s chosen to hide in is a shadowy part of the large tent, obscured by containers  and electronic devices. From here, Barnes has a perfect view of who comes in and out of the tent; who’s working on what and how; who has a weapon clinging to their frame and who doesn’t. It doesn’t hurt that it’s a half-decent sniping spot.

His target-

_ Stop thinkin’ ‘bout such a pretty dame as a target, will ya, pal? _

This time he does shake his head physically, but after a quick glance realizes his position hasn’t been compromised. The alpha grits his teeth, pushing his emotions (annoyance, frustration) to the very back of his mind, and tries to focus once more.

The small doctor currently sits in a sectioned part of the tent, the plastic divider doing little for privacy matters. She hunches over her desk, glancing back and forth between writing notes and looking at the computer screen he cannot see. Ever since the omega had come back from the two previous days’ expeditions (not before causing a ruckus about not using protection wear) she had been excited and eager, focused on her work. Bucky could recognize that bright glint in her eyes anywhere; he had seen Stark and Banner with that look enough times.

From the safety the darkness provides, he watches as Sam Wilson strolls in her small cubicle, and his enhanced hearing picks up talks of ‘going early to eat lunch’. It reminds him that he and Steve should be going soon, as well. They never ate around too many people, and Bucky was grateful for that.

“You did  _ what? _ ” His alpha instincts pick up on her distressed tone before he can stop himself, but the sergeant quickly squashes the urge to soothe her down. He had no doubt Steve would already be halfway across the room, asking ‘what’s wrong?’ in that puppy tone of his.

“Don’t argue with me on this. You’re gonna be here for God knows how long and I know for a fact you haven’t eaten a single piece of meat for fifteen years. You need to eat some protein.”

Bucky stored that information amongst the rapidly growing “Eun-mi Kim” box in his head and continued to listen in without an ounce of shame. It’s not like anyone knew he was there, anyway.

“It doesn’t matter! I don’t want to  - I  _ will not _ be treated differently than anyone here. If everyone eats the same meal they manage to make, then I will too.”

That makes both his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline. She’s stubborn as fuck and a believer of the ‘I ain’t better than anyone’ shit, and damn if she doesn’t remind him of Steve.

_ Well, if she reminds ya of Stevie, then she can’t be that bad, huh, pal? _

.

* * *

 

.

Eun-mi had been squealing internally ever since she came back from the strange-looking spaceship, twice now. She couldn’t help it - it was utterly fascinating.

On both days, she had gone to meet the famous aliens, along with three other people. One of them was Dr. Jane Foster, a renowned astrophysicist she had heard much about. The young woman had been as straightforward as possible, greeting Dr. Foster animatedly and honestly. It had earned her a much needed omega friend whom she could talk nerdy with.

The second person was someone she knew rather well, and she felt no small amount of relief at seeing a familiar face. Professor John Clyde had been the one to teach her all about how powerful languages could be; you can easily destroy someone with a few words, but you can also build empires with it. You can bring people together or tear them apart - such a discussion between them once had led to a rather heated debate about the social and cultural roles of memes (memes!), which ended up being transcripted into a book that had earned Eun-mi a nice entry door through the literature world.

Lastly, but not leastly, was Tony Stark himself. The genius had apparently been accompanying every mission since he’d arrived a week ago, both to protect the civilians and to scan and record the entire interaction. They hadn’t spoken much, but the omega could feel that there was still hurt and betrayal lying deep buried under snarky remarks and cheesy grins. It made her want to reach out and do  _ something _ , but realistically she knew she couldn’t fix everything in the world.

After the small group of four had been taken to the spaceship by jeep, at exactly 3:56 PM, said ship had lowered with a nearly silent hum, and soon they were standing in a large, dark space. It was easy to breathe, they could clearly see each other despite the lack of any source of light and the gravity was the same as they were used to; Eun-mi wrote all observations down in her newly acquired StarkPad, along with all new info FRIDAY had already obtained.

Nothing could have prepared the young woman for the two giant octopede creatures, their form a strange mix of an octopus with a spider. They had no clear head, and she didn’t want to jump to conclusions beforehand, but she assumed their “brain” does not live in any of their eight legs.

As soon as one of them - the smallest one, she noticed - was close enough to the foggy glass-like structure between humans and aliens, it raised one of its leg and an inky circle, with nearly as many spikes as the pictures she had seen, appeared in front of them. Said circle was easily as big as her, but it soon dissipated in the glass, as if it were made of real ink.

Eun-mi had not been thinking when she stepped forward and raised her own hand.

Looking back on it, it had been her luck that neither Captain Rogers nor Sam were present at the moment, because she had no doubt they wouldn’t have let her take even one step towards the creatures. Alas, the only person present who could have done anything to stop her had been Tony Stark, but he had been content enough in having his numerous weapons on standby and let her do whatever she wished.

To be embarrassingly honest, the omega had allowed her curiosity and excitement take over her, and on a whim she had pressed her small hand in the glassy structure. Surprisingly enough, it seemed to be the same temperature as her hand, and even though she clearly had no such thing as ink under her sleeve, a similar circle had formed beneath her hand. Dr. Foster had gasped slightly, and she even heard Professor Clyde murmur a “fascinating” under his breath, but a major part of her brain had been focused solely on what was in front of her.

The doctor had no idea what her own inky circle meant, but apparently it meant something good, for the same creature had put its own leg (?) over her hand. Both aliens had left shortly after, but the small interaction was enough to leave her with more questions than answers - and she was nothing short of excited about it. After a thorough scolding from both Sam and Steve about ‘safety’, she went back the next day and proceeded to do the same thing, much to Stark’s amusement. The reactions had been similar, and by the time she ran out of the spaceship she was practically vibrating with eagerness and enthusiasm.

On the morning of her third day at the military camp, the small brunette had even woken up early - something she was hard pressed to do unless absolutely necessary - and had begun her work right away, only stopping when Sam reminded her she needed to eat lunch.

Which found both of them in a very similar arrangement as her first day; both her and Sam seated side by side in the metal table, with Captain Rogers in front of them. Sergeant Barnes was, in a nearly identical fashion as the previous day, calmly surveying the area with arms crossed over his chest, not three feet away from them.

“So you three always eat before everyone else?” Eun-mi asks, running a hand through her shoulder length hair so as to not hinder her view of the food. Like always, she claps her hands together once and quickly says her prayers before starting with the tomato soup.

It’s Steve who answers her, nodding and speaking after swallowing his mouthful of overcooked pasta. “Yeah. It’s easier for everyone that way.”

Even though none of them offer anything else on the matter, she can see why they would do so, Steve and Bucky especially; two super soldiers, literally out of their time, one of them an ex-assassin controlled by HYDRA. It was no wonder they’d want to have quiet meals, for both good and bad aspects of their fame could quickly make things get out of hand in a small tent full of sneering alphas.

The omega nods, nonetheless, and briefly wonders if the Sergeant had eaten before coming here.

“It does; it makes it all the much easier for me to pick up on the newest gossip.”

In a move far too smooth and quick for her eyes to see, the very own Black Widow slides into the seat next to the blonde alpha, an apple in her hands. Unlike Barnes, the Widow’s scent is mostly muted, and she can’t tell much from it. It scares her a little, to be honest.

The female alpha is one of the most beautiful people Eun-mi has ever laid eyes on. A heart shaped face, high cheekbones, full lips, and dark green eyes that miss nothing. The assassin has blonde hair in the same shoulder length as her own, but instead of her ombré locks, Romanoff’s is nearly a platinum blonde. It suits her incredibly well. She’s taller and curvier than Eun-mi, a perfect hourglass figure partially hidden by dark, tight clothes.

It makes the omega ridiculously self-conscious of her own flat chest, too wide hips, and her munching squirrel cheeks.

Next to her, Sam snorts, reminding her the newcomer had said something. The brunette quickly chews and swallows down her food.

“Like you wouldn’t hear about it sooner or later, Romanoff.” The beta says with a good-natured roll of his eyes, to which the female blonde only snorts.

“Sooner is much better than later, Wilson.” She then turns sharp green eyes to Eun-mi, and in the span of three seconds she feels as if the alpha knows more about her than hal-abeoji. It makes her smile nervously in response.

“Uhm, hello?” It comes out as a question and the doctor wants to kick herself. She takes it back; Bucky somehow doesn’t make her nearly as nervous as Natasha Romanoff does.

Captain Rogers not-so-subtly nudges the other alpha next to him, and she watches, a bit fascinated, as an entire conversation is had before her eyes, despite none of them speaking a single word. Finally, Steve gives Natasha what Sammy had called The Eyes of Disappointment and the female rolls her eyes and smirks.

“So, you’re the doctor who can talk to aliens?”

And just like that, Eun-mi’s nervousness is replaced by exasperation. The omega rolls her eyes and huffs, speaking before stuffing a meatball (that has no actual meat but instead has soy meat in it; thank you so much Sammy) in her mouth and chewing. “Is that on my resume or something? Because, apparently, I know how to speak alien and everyone but me knows that.”

Usually she’d curse her wit, quick to defend her in uncomfortable situations, but she was nervous and just a tad stressed. To her surprise, the Widow’s smirk widens and she sticks out her unoccupied hand.

“Now I see why Tony likes you. Natasha Romanoff.”

She reaches across the table to shake hands with the taller female, shoulders releasing a tension she wasn’t aware she had been holding.

“Eun-mi Kim.”

“Uhn-mee?” The smooth, velvety voice of the female alpha repeats, and the omega is surprised. Not many western people can say her name correctly on the first go. It makes her respect for the blonde increase tenfold.

“Yes.”

Natasha nods, satisfied, before she bites into her apple, deeming the conversation over. A quick glance at her right reveals Sam giving Romanoff a warning glance; Steve sighing quietly in relief, and Bucky in the same position as before. Eun-mi doubted he had even moved.

_ ‘Well, that could have gone a lot worse, I suppose.’  _ She thinks, more amused than anything.

.

* * *

.

Eun-mi stretches slowly in her chair, raising her arms well above her head and hearing the satisfying pops that come with the action. Closing her eyes, the omega leans her head back against the uncomfortable support of her chair and enjoys the chorus currently playing on her earphones.

She has little to no doubt anyone who passes by her working cubicle will be able to hear Before I Forget by Slipknot blaring through her small earphones, but at the moment she’s far too stressed to care.

The computer clock tells her it’s nearly midnight, and her tired brain is demanding sleep already. Usually, she’d go to bed an hour or two later, but demanding so much from your brain can only result in it asking for more rest. Eun-mi won’t be able to fall asleep right now, though. She has too many ideas and theories running through her head, and she needs to do something with them before she even thinks of falling asleep.

The extraterrestrial creatures are fascinating. She’s taken to call the smaller one Ratatouille, and the other one, Benito, simply because she had decided she couldn’t keep on calling them ‘aliens’. Even though she has only interacted with them twice, the doctor can already tell each of them has traits unique to them only. Ratatouille seems to be the one in charge, as it has always been the one to step forward and attempt to talk to them. Benito always stays in the back, never approaching them too much, and seems to sway back and forth constantly; the swaying gets more prominent the longer Ratatouille communicates with them, which might be an indicator of anxious behavior.

Or not. Heaving a frustrated sigh, Eun-mi opens her eyes and focuses on breathing exercises to clear her mind. She hasn’t even realized the song ended and another had started. The Devil in I was her favorite.

It was unlikely those aliens behaved and thought like humans did. It was pretentious and absurd of her to think like that. For all she knew, Benito was the one in charge, not Ratatouille.

 _‘I need to find patterns._ ’ An idea pops into her mind, and the omega goes back to her notes with a sharp focus. Her handwriting, a neat mess of scrawls written in English, Korean, and Portuguese would make no sense to anyone but her, and she intends to keep it that way. As she turns chocolate eyes to the computer screen, she quickly downloads all her research and files into a flash drive, and puts it on the front pocket of her skinny pants. Eun-mi then proceeds to delete all the progress from the computer.

Determined, the doctor hastily shoves a sweater over her head and heads out of her working place, one destination in mind.

She has taken three full steps before she realizes she’s forgotten her Stark Pad, and swiftly turns around to grab it-

Only for her small nose to hit a tall, brick wall.

The smell of leather and sandalwood assaults her nose before she can even understand what’s going on. Eun-mi lets out a surprised squeak (that she’ll deny ever left her mouth till the end of time, because no, she does  _ not _ squeak) and looks up and up and up, all the way past broad shoulders and a sharp jaw and a chin with a real cute dimple and pink lips and a perfect nose (she did not squeak!) before settling on a pair of steel blue eyes.

.

.

Bucky was fairly sure observing someone shouldn’t have been nearly this interesting.

Eun-mi Kim, he realized soon enough, was a daydream dressed like a nightmare; a brilliant and young asian doctor called in for her knowledge in sociology and linguistics, who seemed way too smart for her own good. It reminded him too much of the HYDRA scientists.

After nearly three days of constant observation, though, the sergeant had likened her to a breath of fresh air after being cooped inside for too long. It was the same feeling he got when he met Stevie for the first time.

The omega was full of peculiarities and quirks, and even though she kept to herself most of the time, she wasn’t afraid of letting some people read her like an open book. Perhaps because he was well aware she would be able to defend herself. At first, her somewhat carefree attitude startled him; surely this had to be a ploy. She was an omega in an unfavorable environment full of military alphas, there was no way she was as comfortable as she seemed to be.

Yet, she was.

From the spot that had become his second tent in this military base, the alpha had watched people check up on her, multiple times - Sam Wilson was the one that came most often, by far, but other people, like Steve, Dr. Foster, and even Stark were slowly getting attached to her (though they also prevented any ‘lost’ alpha from bothering her, he knew). It confused him greatly, but after careful observation Bucky realized Eun-mi was a great deal like Steve.

Disturbingly honest and ridiculously stubborn, but also understanding and open-minded not unlike a mother would be. The doctor didn’t particularly seek out people, but she didn’t shy away from them either, often engaging in hours-long conversations with whoever was willing. In a world and time full of mistrust and tense government agents barking out orders, it was easy to see why people would flock to someone kind and truthful.

**Warning: personal opinions getting in the way of the mission. Delete-**

The sergeant closes his eyes briefly, willing The Asset into the farthest corner in his mind. It hadn’t been a particularly busy day, but his mind was never willing to crumble only when he was exhausted and broken. No, it was a constant war.

The alpha had been out of it for perhaps three seconds, but it had been enough for the omega he’d been observing to slip out of her working place. He had seen her put her notes away and delete all the files in the computer after saving them in a flash drive, which only raised The Asset’s suspicions, but Bucky knew better than that. There was no doubt in his mind the doctor was half-raised by Wilson, which made half of her actions make sense. If Bucky had been called to do something as shady as this in the middle of nowhere, he’d also want to make sure his progress was safely on his person at all times.

In a move swifter than he’d had begged her to be able to do, Eun-mi had slipped into the darkness of the main tent, going straight for the exit. His body automatically left his little corner in the shadows to follow her, but he never expected her to suddenly turn around and bump into him.

The sergeant had been right; she barely reached his shoulders, and something about her slim figure made his alpha instincts want to  _ protect _ . Rationally, he knew it was because he’d been watching her for three days straight now, not to mention she was the first omega to willingly come into contact with him after Wanda, six months ago. It didn’t stop his less rational side from quirking a small smile when she squeaked.

For what seemed like hours, they had sized each other up, neither of them willing to break the silence. Bucky had carefully watched as she took in his form, imposing and dangerous even in the dim moonlight; to his utter surprise, the omega didn’t seem afraid or even startled. He felt as if she was more amazed to actually see him than anything, stoically watching as chocolate brown eyes clashed with his own blue ones with only a hint of bewilderment and curiosity in them. Surreptitiously, Bucky sniffed the air, and the omega’s relaxed scent - something flowery (lavender?) but not too overly sweet that made him want to bury his nose there and never let go - confirmed it.

“Sergeant Barnes?” Eun-mi breaks the silence first, a whisper of his name that he barely catches, even with his enhanced hearing. Somehow, the moment turned into something more intimate, and he briefly wondered what it’d feel like if she called him Bucky.

_ Aren’t we treadin' dangerous territory here, pal? _

The Dead Man's annoying reminder makes him scowl internally, and although he is loathe to admit it, the voice is right. The Asset is right. He can’t afford to get emotionally invested in someone simply because he can’t keep his instincts in check. Mentally, he scoffs.

“Doctor.” Bucky nods at her, managing to keep both his expression and his voice neutral. No one - not even Steve - knew of his internal struggle, and he wanted to keep it that way.

He expects her to ask why he’s there, and why he’s clearly been observing her, but she doesn’t, and he’s relieved for a reason he can’t quite point out. Instead, the doctor looks up at him with those bright, bright eyes - belatedly, the sergeant realizes there’s guarded hope in them - and opens full lips.

“Do you know where Tony is?”

The question obviously throws him off guard, but he merely blinks externally. Immediately, the alpha’s mind goes to a separated tent, where Stark had built his small laboratory and lived for most of the day. He’s never been there and he obviously doesn’t want to, but he’ll be damned if he allows Eun-mi to go off on a search of her own, knowing full well what kind of alphas could be lurking.

Wordlessly, he turns on his heel and starts to walk towards the lab, but her quiet voice makes him pause.

“Ah, please wait. I have to get my Stark Pad.” The alpha tilts his head at her, fulling pausing in his steps. The doctor catches his hint and quickly slips into her cubicle, coming out two seconds later with the mentioned device. Her lips curl into a small, grateful smile, and Bucky moves forward again before he can read too much into it.

The brief walk is silent, but it’s not awkward like it is with everyone else. The atmosphere isn’t stifling or unpleasant, and quick sniff of the air tells him Eun-mi is just as relaxed as she’s been for the past three days. Curiously, the sergeant notes she walks beside him, on his right side. She’s close enough for people to think they’re on friendly terms, but far enough she won’t touch him unless either of them reaches out.

It makes something warm and foreign bloom in his chest that not even The Asset wants to chase out.

_ ‘She’s really not afraid of me.’ _

Steel blue eyes take in her relaxed stance and calm smile next to him, and as he purposely slows down his pace so she can easily keep up with him, the omega’s smile widens just a fraction.

Bucky forcefully tears his eyes away, but maintains the same slow pace.

All too soon, they reach the narrow corridor that’ll lead them to Stark’s lab, and the doctor realizes it as well, pausing in her step. His stride stops short just one step in front of her.

The question is at the tip of his tongue, and he knows his eyes are just as searching when the sergeant turns his gaze to her. Wordlessly, she shakes her hand and smiles, brown strands mixed in with blonde swaying around her face as she does.

“Thank you for showing me the way, Sergeant. It’s just down this corridor, right?”

It takes him a moment, but then it’s like someone punched him in the guts, sucking all the air from his lungs.

It’s no secret to anyone that there’s still bad blood between him and Stark. Bucky knows he and Steve briefly talked it out - more importantly, the beta had rebuilt his metal arm, the same was that was now clenching and unclenching. It was much more silent than the previous one, he belatedly realizes. Since he and Steve arrived at the camp ten days ago, the atmosphere had been tense whenever the three men were in the same room. The wounds were still fresh but no one had wanted to address the white elephant in the room, choosing instead to tiptoe around the topic and use euphemisms as if they were children. The issue was still a sensitive topic, of course, but Bucky never had any need for coddling, and the thought that these people thought he clearly did enraged him.

Eun-mi, though, had not only smoothly acknowledged the topic, but also was sensible enough to understand he and Stark weren’t on speaking terms just yet. She was giving him an easy way out, despite Bucky himself offering to take her there.

The same strange warmth bloomed in his chest when the alpha realized this wasn’t coddling; no, far from it. In her eyes, he saw kindness and understanding without an ounce of uncertainty or pity, and maybe that was why he took the one step that would bring them as close as they were when she bumped into him.

Even in the lack of the weak moonlight, his eyes could still make out the same relaxed and easygoing expression on her face. In that moment, they weren’t alpha and omega, or sergeant and doctor. They weren’t even male and female.

With a small quirk of her lips, she offered him a friendship. Understanding. A place away from mistrustful glares and sneers and expectations and sky blue eyes that wanted someone who was not him.

Eun-mi was offering him sanctuary.

Bucky opens his mouth, tongue darting to lick his lips in a rare show of nervousness, and he can see the doctor’s expression go from relaxed to happy-

“Hey, tin man! Step away from the peanut, will you?”

Tony’s voice, loud enough to break the peaceful moment, makes them jerk away from each other in surprise. Bucky lets out a low growl rip from his throat, turning the most deadly glare he can manage at the direction of the beta. The Asset in him is satisfied to notice the other man tense slightly.

A second later, the sergeant takes note of what Stark had called her. A million thoughts run through his head - he has a nickname for her; are they close?; no; not Stark;  _ not Stark  _ \-  and the place quickly becomes a mess with his screaming, The Asset’s growling and The Dead Man’s yells. Before he can look into the now concerned omega’s eyes (her smell no longer soothingly sweet - no!, he must- he must?), he leaves with a snarl, something ugly and putrid swimming in his chest in the place of the previous warmth.


	3. Day 5: Hit Me With Your Best Shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fights, both mental and physical, are exhausting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, there will be a few dialogues in foreign languages, and I’ve decided to warn you beforehand instead of translating everything, which is exhausting and makes it hard to read. I’ll try to avoid doing this as much as I can, but unfortunately it’s part of the story and it wouldn’t be the same if I left it out.
> 
> Dialogues in Japanese will be in BOLD.  
> Dialogues in Korean will be UNDERLINED.
> 
> I do not own any of the Marvel characters or the Arrival plot.

**Day 5: Hit Me With Your Best Shot**

.

.

 

 

> “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."
> 
> \- Margaret Thatcher

.

.

Somewhere, in the blurriest corners of her exhausted mind, Eun-mi knew she needed to focus on her task. The sooner she did her job here, the sooner she went back to hal-abeoji. Wasn’t that what had been motivating her to push her brain to its limit for five days straight? Wasn’t that why she had been scolded by Sammy and Captain Fucking America more times than she could count for drinking ridiculous amounts of bad coffee?

 Then why the hell had she been unable to truly focus on Benito and Ratatouille for the past two days?

 With a disgruntled groan, the omega sets her hair free from the messy bun it was in and sighs heavily. A hand reaches out for the mug nearly lost between notes and electronic devices, and another grumble leaves her throat when she realizes there isn’t any coffee left.

  _'What did I do?’_

 The doctor knew exactly why she hadn’t been able to focus. It came in the form of a stiff body, clenched jaw and an unreadable expression. Whenever she closes her eyes, Eun-mi can see steel blue eyes lose the hopeful glint she had managed to grow, and the guilt was threatening to swallow her whole.

 She lies her head back on the chair she’s sitting on, and although it’s an uncomfortable position for her neck, it’s one her body has become used to. Without really thinking about it, she changes the playlist on her phone; A Day to Remember blasts through her earphones instead of the soothing Beethoven from before, and she can’t help but sigh in relief at the silence in her mind, ironically enough.

 The omega honestly believed she had been doing good with Sergeant Barnes. She knew he’d been watching her since day one, mostly because Sammy had warned her beforehand, but she was surprisingly okay with it. It’s not like she didn’t know where he was coming from. When the alpha offered to take her to Tony, however, Eun-mi felt her veins run colder with hesitation for a split second. Was it really wise to let those two be in the same room without any clear professional purpose?

 But her previous experience knew better than to doubt Barnes, who had made the offer himself; if he said he was okay with it, then she was going to trust him. He was a difficult man to read, often wearing a blank mask and shadowing Steve, but between glimpses and glances Eun-mi knew the alpha was a kind, gentle man. That dreadful night two days ago had made sure that was her opinion of him.

 Yet, she couldn’t help but feel as if he was holding back all the time. Logically, scraping up what little knowledge of medical science she had, the doctor knew that two and a half years were usually a reasonable time for someone to somewhat recover from shock-induced amnesia and PTSD - with proper guidance, of course.

 (Okay, so she might have read a bit on the topic. She hadn’t understood half of the medical jargon, so sue her.)

 The million dollar question here was: why, then, was Bucky Barnes acting like he still was the Winter Soldier?

  _'What if he’s really the Winter Soldier most of the time and you’re wrong?’_

 The omega suddenly takes in a sharp breath, briefly closing her eyes and allowing the heavy sound of electric guitars and the beat of the drums clear her mind. She really doesn’t have the time or the patience to deal with the old voice of her insecurities right now. She has a job to do.

 Embarrassingly enough, she nearly lets out a shriek when her earphones are suddenly ripped off by dark hands, and Eun-mi wastes no time in glaring at the offender.

 “I don’t have enough middle fingers to let you know how I’m feeling.”

 Sammy’s rough bark of laughter is both a blessing and a curse in the early evening, when the Sun has just set so there is still the slightest hint of natural light. The sudden lack of metal rock in her ears brings forth a small wave of a headache, and the omega wishes for caffeine once again.

 “I come bearing food and drink, and this is the thanks I get? You’re lucky I love you, ungrateful brat.”

 She rolls her eyes but a smile slips out nonetheless, and her exasperated façade lasts for all of three seconds - enough for Sam to clear out a small spot in the middle of her mess to put a steaming mug of green tea and a small piece of simple chocolate cake. It makes her eyes widen comically enough for her friend to let out another huff of laughter.

 “Where did you even get this?” Eun-mi quickly says her prayers and wastes no time in taking a sip of the tea. Her headache immediately goes away in a deep sigh while her shoulders relax. It tasted like home, and if she closed her eyes and pretended hard enough she could almost see hal-abeoji sitting in front of her with that good-natured smile of his.

 “Stark makes his flying suit get ‘edible food’ once a week for him, and apparently he likes you enough to bring in stuff you like.” The omega merely hums in acknowledgement, deciding to momentarily ignore Sammy’s curiosity in favor of the delicious-looking cake in front of her. The texture is slightly dry, but it’s the best meal she’s had in days.

 Eun-mi sighs internally and prepares herself for a Discussion as Sammy makes himself comfortable in her little working place, resting his hip on her cluttered desk and crossing his arms as casually as he can.

 Thank God he never had to be a spy. He’d be found out in minutes.

 As she finishes up the last of her tea, she lets the bitter and familiar taste run on her tongue before swallowing, finally turning towards the beta. Expectantly, she merely raises an eyebrow.

 “Okay, what did you do?”

 Wilson had the decency to pretend to look embarrassed before snorting and rolling his eyes. As his familiar and relaxing scent soothes her muscles further, her incident with Barnes is pushed to a ‘deal with this later’ corner in her mind. Even though it’s not even eight yet, the omega feels as if she’d fall asleep straight away should she go to bed now.

 “I did nothing, thank you for your trust. I’m just wondering what the hell you did to Barnes.”

 The doctor tries not to flinch, but is unsuccessful. Sammy had always been a sharp person, he was bound to notice it sooner or later; still, it made the guilt come back with a vengeance, and with it a vaguely nauseous taste in her mouth.

 “Hey.” The Falcon’s tone is much softer this time, probably because he’d noticed her distressed scent. The beta leans towards her and kneels before her chair, much like he used to back in Cambridge. In psychology, kneeling and looking at a child’s eye level meant you’re taking them seriously, and the feeling is the same 15 years later. “I didn’t mean it like that. What happened?”

 Large, dark hands engulf hers in a comfortable and familiar grip, and finally the weight of the past couple of days comes crashing down on her. Her back hunches forward just as a shadow settles on her usually content expression, and for the first time in days Sam Wilson realizes just how much pressure lies on her tiny shoulders.

 Just because Eun-mi pretends to be fine doesn’t mean she is, and he really should have known better than that. Worrying about Steve and Stark was no excuse for his absent-mindedness.

 “I don’t know what I did wrong.” She murmurs quietly, and the anguished look in her eyes is more than enough for him to maneuver them so he’s sitting on her chair and she settles on his lap. It takes a bit of fussing and moving around, but soon enough they’re comfortable again. Wilson makes sure her expression remains hidden from whoever might be trying to listen in, and vows to pay more attention to his friend from now on.

 He had promised himself and her grandfather he’d take care of her, damn it, and he would do so.

 As the doctor sits sideways on his long legs, Sam feels her cold nose nudge his neck, where his left scent gland is. This position, too, is familiar to both of them, and neither feels the need to break the silence for a few moments.

 “Has he… has he said anything?” Eun-mi questions him, an hesitant and guilty tone clear in her voice. He holds her tighter against him, nearly wishing he hadn’t said anything.

 “Barnes himself hasn’t, and that’s what’s been worrying Steve. He’s been snappier than usual.” The skin on his neck feels nice and cool when the omega heaves a sigh upon it, and although he wants to mention the sergeant leaves the room in a snarl whenever Eun-mi or Stark are mentioned, he refrains from it.

 Besides, Sam has a vague idea of what the whole thing is about.

 “I honestly don’t know what happened.” The doctor in his lap confesses, her voice a mere whisper against his skin. “Two days ago, I was looking for Tony and Sergeant Barnes offered to take me there. At some point, I even though there was a possibility he was going to let me in - let me help him -  and then Tony broke the mood and he left.”

 Something in him roars at the dejected and hurt admission from the woman he’s known for 15 years now. His instincts immediately remind him of a time when Eun-mi was a third of the size she is now, weak and frail and scared of her own shadow. Those same instincts make him unbelievably annoyed and pissed off at Barnes, even if the rational part of him realizes it’s not exactly his fault.

 Cold fingertips prevent the snarl from leaving his throat before he even realizes what’s going on, and suddenly he’s back in control of his emotions. For now.

 “It’s not his fault, Sammy. It’s not anyone’s fault, really.” It’s his turn to sigh heavily, and as he rests his chin on her head, he briefly wonders if Barnes is even aware of the mess he’s made. Most likely not.

 “...I’m sure you’ve realized something odd about his behavior.” The Falcon murmurs carefully, double checking their surroundings one more time. He’s about to tread on the thinnest ice on Earth, and the last thing he needs is for anyone else to hear their conversation.

 “He holds himself back most of the time.” The answer is hesitant, as if she doesn’t exactly know what he’s talking about, but his pain in the ass is a clever little thing. She’ll figure things out on her own, he has no doubt.

 “Yeah, he does.”

 A pause. Then;

 “Do you know why?”

 Sam feels her begin to shake her head, but then Eun-mi seems to carefully consider her words.

 “I… think I have an idea, but I haven’t been around him long enough to be sure. Rather, yesterday Steve said something and I think I wasn’t really meant to hear that.”

 The beta says nothing, merely waits for her to finish gathering her thoughts.

 “He mentioned that… that he missed the old times. I think what he really meant to say was-”

 “-that he misses the old Bucky. Yeah.”

 A heavy silence falls between the two friends, each lost in the middle of their own chaotic brain. It wasn’t their place to discuss about something as incredibly complex as Bucky’s mind, but it had become inevitable since Eun-mi had followed in Sam’s steps and obtained her bachelor’s degree in psychology. More often than not, the two did it without consciously thinking about it, and if Steve heard them right now, they’d be in trouble.

 “I want to help him.” The omega suddenly declares, the statement ringing loud and clear between the two of them, even though she had but whispered the words. Sam sighs, because he had figured as much, but lets her finish her line of thought. “I think he’s wearing a very strong armor because he feels as if… as if he doesn’t know who he should be.”

 The Falcon adjust his hold on her, and he can feel her heavy gaze on him. “I think he knows he isn’t the Bucky Steve knew, but he knows he isn’t the Winter Soldier either. There’s a lot of heavy expectation on both sides, though.”

 For one second, Eun-mi imagined herself in the sergeant’s shoes, and wasn’t sure how she would’ve dealt with the situation. On one hand, there’s Steve Rogers, the man whom he’s supposedly known all his life and the only thing vaguely familiar in a brand new world; on the other, a literal army and government agents who still think he’s the Winter Soldier - a walking bomb just waiting to blow.

 It must be nothing short of exhausting, and the omega feels a pang of sympathy for the man.

 .

* * *

.

_The painfully familiar aroma of green tea is what hits her nose first. That, mixed with the smell of freshly cut grass and wildflowers, is what makes her realize she’s home before she even opens her eyes._

_A glance around tells her she’s sitting on their wooden porch, a grocery list half written in her hands._

_“What is the matter, child?”_

_Eun-mi almost cries at how natural the whole thing feels. Her hal-abeoji puts down a tray with two steaming mugs of green tea, and kneels gingerly next to her. She doesn’t even realize a stray tear is running down her cheek until a wrinkly, but surprisingly steady hand, wipes it away. With trembling hands, the omega holds her grandpa’s on her own, relishing the contact._

  _“I want to go home, hal-abeoji.”_

  _The old alpha merely tuts at her, sliding her a cup of tea._ _“You are a strong one, my child. Soon enough you’ll be home.”_

  _The omega wants to yell at nothing and everything. She wants to tell him she’s not strong, that she’s tired and that she’s confused. The doctor wants to cry at how much being outside of her comfort zone bothers her._

  _Instead, she whimpers miserably, and soon finds comfort in her grandpa’s arms. The embrace is not an everyday occasion, but perhaps the alpha senses how distressed she is, and humours her._

  _For a while, it’s quiet._

  _It’s enough for her to calm down and take deep breaths of the soothing smell her hal-abeoji has; something earthy and homely mixed in with grass and incense. For a few moments, Eun-mi closes her eyes and pretends hard enough she’s back home, twenty minutes away from Cambridge. She pretends she’s going grocery shopping later, and even entertains the thought of helping their neighbor make kimchi later._

  _It’s a false sense of security that gradually starts to bother her. Opening chocolate brown eyes, she squirms a bit in her grandpa’s arms, looking for what has put her on edge. A quick glance around their property lands her orbs on a dark patch a few miles ahead, right where the woods begin. Squinting her eyes, Eun-mi takes in a sharp breath when she realizes what it is._

  _The figure is tall but slim, taking on the form of a man. Although the shadows cover a good part of the shape, and the face is blurry enough to prevent any facial recognition, she’d remember those eyes anywhere._

  _Cold, cold red eyes stare right at her, freezing her entire being with their piercing gaze. Her whole body trembles, and suddenly she’s not at her house anymore._

  _Eun-mi is alone, cold and shivering in the middle of the woods. Dark trees loom over her tiny form, and the ice she feels in her veins has nothing to do with the humid environment. Belatedly, she realizes hal-abeoji is no longer with her, and she desperately wishes she could get up and look for him. There are, however, invisible tree roots that prevent her from leaving. They intertwine along her slim legs, minutely tightening their hold as a desperate part of her struggles to get free._

  _In the middle of rapid breaths and swirling thoughts, her dilated pupils zoom in on the terrifying form in front of her, dark and menacing and everything she ever dreaded, personified and solid in front of her._

  _The doctor is one step away from screaming bloody murder and ripping her hair off. This sinking feeling in her stomach, the freezing cold in her soul, and the lump in her throat are all things she thought were behind her, far away in Kyoto._

  **_“You will never be truly free, foolish child.”_ **

  _The voice is definitely a male’s, rumbling and raging. A choked sob works its way through her throat, but she refuses to let a single tear drop. She has cried enough for a lifetime for this man - no, this monster._

  _As if sensing her defiance, the roots keeping her in place slowly go back to their place underneath the earth, and that is all Eun-mi needs to stumble on her shaky legs and run away from the woods, as fast as she possibly can._

  _There isn’t enough air in her lungs._

  **_‘Run faster. Run faster. Run faster faster run run run get away get away rungetaway-!’_ **

  _The omega pants and huffs and_ wills _her lungs to breathe in more air; the fear and the adrenaline she feels are begging for her to go faster, to reach safety, just as much as they prevent her from feeling any of the scratches and bruises gradually forming on her lightly tanned skin. A sob escapes her again, but she is adamant about keeping the tears in check._

  _She will not give her father that satisfaction._

  _Like an amused predator, said man appears in her path, a vulture of shadows and darkness and_ evil _. The look in those red eyes brings Eun-mi to her knees, heaving and throwing up all over the dry leaves and the moss._

  _Until she isn’t touching the ground anymore, neck held in a vicious grip by a dark blob of a hand. The doctor struggles, her entire body sending off warning signs at the lack of oxygen and imminent threat to her physical being._

  **_“Run. Run and run and run, until you no longer can. Then, you will realize hope is futile. I wait anxiously for that day.”_ **

  _She screams._

 She screams and yells and shouts, but the sounds are stuck in her throat and it all only makes her want to scream louder.

 The scenery changes again. Looming in front of her and cutting her oxygen supply stands no longer the intimidating figure of her biological father, but an alpha whose name she can’t be bothered to remember. Everything is strangely foggy, and even though her blurry sight catches his mouth moving, she can’t hear a thing. The doctor catches a few words she can read on his lips. Weak. Omega. Useless. Bitch.

 Something snaps inside of her.

 In a rush, all the advice and training sessions Sam had given her comes roaring to life. Instead of ice, there is fire running in her veins; she’s furious, and she’ll be damned if she lets anyone make choices for her ever again.

 With her vision rapidly turning to black, Eun-mi makes a split-second decision, aims her foot on the general direction of the alpha’s crotch, and hopes with all her being it hits. It does, and it’s enough to stun him for a moment. The omega takes those few precious seconds to suck in as much air - sweet, sweet air - as she can, nearly choking in the process. Her instincts, however, know she doesn’t have time to recover, and her trembling body rushes forward without a conscious decision.

  _‘Stun.’_

 Her left hand forms a peace sign and her pointed fingers go straight to the man’s eyes. He lets out a strangled sound, his rage putrid in her nose.

  _‘Incapacitate.’_

 The doctor brings her knee forward in one swift motion, aiming for his gut, but he catches her limb and moves to grab her arm. Before he can do that, however, a sharp elbow flies straight to his nose, and instantly the smell of blood is a sharp reminder that she needs to finish this, quickly.

  _‘Bring them down. For good.’_

 Her small hands fly towards her cluttered desk, blindly searching for something - anything! - that could help her. She reaches cool metal and a flat surface, and a final surge of adrenaline allows her to rip off the computer screen off its wires as it meets the alpha’s head in its path.

 He falls to his knees first, as the rest of his body heavily drops down. He doesn’t get back up.

 Once again, it’s quite for a few moments, her pants too loud in her own ears. Eun-mi’s knees wobble, the reality of what happened finally crashing down all at once.

 There’s not enough air, even though there’s nothing on her neck this time. Things are too sharp around her, and the mix of smells in the air is increasingly making her sick. Something tells her to back up and curl in to protect herself, and she obeys. A sob escapes, and she just wants to go home.

 .

* * *

 .

 He had been one step away from helping her.

 Guilt and shame had led his legs to her cubicle, but the familiar sounds of a scuffle made them run. Dread and fury had filled his gut, along with the push of The Asset, fighting his way out.

 Bucky had arrived just in time to see Eun-mi curl in on herself during a panic attack, and suddenly he wasn’t in control of his body anymore. There was an odd detachedness to his gaze, as if he were watching his life through his own eyes.

 The Asset’s mission is clear.

 His handler, Steve (Steve? Steve! Steve wasn’t his handler. There were no handlers. He was free. Was he?) had told him in no uncertain terms that Eun-mi was to be protected after they both had come to the conclusion she was no threat. The Asset had acknowledged the mission, even if he hadn’t been trained to protect. He’d been trained to kill, to destroy and eliminate threats.

 That’s what he would do to any potential threats to his mission.

 His enhanced hearing picks up on footsteps. His whole body tenses, mind rushing to form plans and find exit routes. The omega was small; he’d easily be able to carry her out with one hand and shoot with the other.

 A gun is already on his metal hand when his brain provides a vital information: he knows those footsteps. Steve and Wilson. The Soldier glances towards the doctor curled up on the floor, and although everything in him is yelling at him to move forward and protect, he knows the two newcomers wouldn’t hurt her. Obviously, he doesn’t trust them to protect her as well as he can, but it’ll be enough until he deals with another issue.

  **‘Eliminate threat.’**

 The Asset’s metal arm grabs the unconscious alpha on the floor, roughly dragging him outside before anyone can notice. Some part of his mind acknowledges he’s furious, an uncommon reaction for him. The Soldier has seldom felt this kind of rage before, and it was usually associated with targets fighting back and landing hits on him.

 The trash in his hands stirs, and his mind clears.

  **‘Eliminate.’**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bitch to write.

**Author's Note:**

> *Hal-abeoji: an informal, but polite way to address elderly men in South Korea, often used to address grandfathers. It’s written as 할아버지 and spoken like hahl' ah buh gee.
> 
> Eun-mi’s name is pronounced as Uhn-mee.


End file.
